Consumption
by somedudelol
Summary: A dark short story revolving around the death of Miroku.


Walking down a dirt road in a everlasting green meadow, the party begins to head back to the village now that the sun is in the western sky. All are jubilant over their victory of yet another jewel weilding demon. Sango and Kagome lead on, chatting it up, with Shippou sitting in Kagome's bike basket.. with all the modern day snacks mind you. Shippou, now engorging himself in the wonders of potato chips, catches the eye of Inuyasha, who wants in on the treats. He rushes up to the girls and the little fox, gives him a knock on the head, and grabs the bag of chips.

"INUYASHA!" Cries out Kagome. Inuyasha quickly halts everything. He hands the chips back to Shippou, while grabbing the talisman around his neck, praying not to hear those dreaded words. He slowly backs away and is spared spinal injury for now.

"Feh.. stupid brat gets all the goods." he mutters. He slows his pace to Miroku, who has been somewhat lagging behind.

"Sango?" starts Kagome, "Miroku really saved you today, didn't he? That wind tunnel of his, it really came through for us all."

"Yea it did," replied Sango, "but.. something is not right with him." They both take a quick glance back toward him. "He looks.. sad.."

A throbbing sensation can be felt going up Miroku's arm, though not very painful, it feels more like a sense of pressure. Miroku looks at his hand almost every ten seconds, and quickly drops it back to his side, showing a face of uncertainty.

"I told you not to use it.." quietly barked Inuyasha "... you've gone too far.. havn't you?"

Miroku glances up at Inuyasha's face, almost teary eyed and with a look of fear. "Don't say anything to them! Don't tell Sango.." He looks at his hand again. "I don't want her to worry for me."

The sun lowers, the green grass turns orange, and the fireflies slowly start to emerge. The group has made it safely back to the village, yet Miroku does not converse with them. He goes off and sits on a hill, looking off to the sunset. Inuyasha jumps ontop of a roof and carefully watches Miroku. The monk takes his eyes off the sun, and fixes them on his hand. A slight breeze picks up and runs through his hair, and then he hears soft footsteps behind him.

"Miroku I.. I just wanted to thank you for saving me today.. You do it quite often.. but I never really ever thank you for it. I just wanted to tell you for once." Gently said Sango. Her voice sooths him for an instant, and he blanks out of it, like he is daydreaming. His unresponsiveness however was not expected by Sango. "Well you know, maybe I should just stick to not saying anything at all!" She sharply says, and storms off.

Miroku snaps out of it after realizing what just happend. "No, wait!"... but she had already gone back to the cottage. He looks at the cottage and sighs, then glances up on the roof and notices Inuyasha's piercing glare. He quickly turns around, and glances more at his hand. The pressure is building, he can feel it in his neck.

The moon now has taken its turn in the sky, and the whole group now attempts to get some sleep. Around a little fire within the cottage the group lays, except for Inuyasha who always sleeps, or pretends to, sitting up. Miroku though cannot find any peace. His eyes wide open, staring at the wall infront of him, he slowly sits himself up against it. He looks into the blazing fire, nearly hypnotized by it, but the ongoing pressure build up prevents him this bliss. His hand twitching, his eyes wander nervously, sweat drips from his face. He looks at Sango, his twitching stops, and whispers to her his love for her.

Inuyasha's eyes open, and locks with Miroku's. He takes a sniff in the air, and shows a solom expression. "Its time, isn't it?" He says to the monk as his eyes drift downard to the fire.

"I... Don't let her follow me, ok?" he replies. There is nothing said afterward, both simply gaze into the fire for what seems an eternity. Inuyasha's eyes then widen and he quickly glances at Miroku, he has sensed it before the monk has. Miroku begins to pant for air, the consumption in his hand.. he now feels it in his heart. He begins to panic. He graps his chest with one hand, and claws at the wall behind him with the other, desperatly trying to find something to simply grasp on to. Yet he knows he cannot stay in here. He jumps to his feet, but hesitates to make a next move. Inuyasha jumps to his feet as well, grasping Tetsaiga as he does not know what to expect.

The comotion awakens Sango.. she sees him through her blury eyes standing.. "M.. Miroku?"

He looks down at her with tears in his eyes, then quickly runs out the door. Sango quickly gets up to go follow him. Inuyasha almost blanks on what Miroku told him and rushes to stop her. Kagome and Shippou awaken and go out to see whats happening.

Sango stops in the sight of Miroku firmly standing in the middle of the field. "Whats happening? Miroku?"

Miroku grabs his wrist and begins now to writhe in pain, and lets out a terrorfying cry of agony. Sango starts to run toward him, but Inuyasha catches up and holds her back.

"What are you doing?! What is happening?! LET ME GO!! MIROKU!??!" She cries as Inuyasha struggles to keep her back.

Miroku points his hand straight up toward the sky now, and suddenly a giant rush of air comes crashing down on everyone. Then a brilliant white light englufs Miroku, but its brilliance turns violent as it begins to swirl rapidly around him.

"NO! MIROKU PLEASE NO!!" begs Sango hopelessly as she continues to try to fight off Inuyasha. She knows what she is seeing now but wishes to join him in the light.

The intensity of the rotating wind and light picks up, then suddenly a shockwave occurs and knocks everyone on their back. When they get back up to look, the light and wind are gone. Nothing now remains except a crater. Shippou buries his face into Kagomes shirt as she also cannot bear to see anymore and turns her face away. Inuyasha lets go of his grap, and Sango drops to her knees. Her mouth gaping and her eyes wide, she does not know what to do. She gets up and runs to the crater. She starts to franticly dig into the dirt with her hands, trying to give herself one last hope that this did not just happen, and that hes still here somehow. She feels Inuyasha's hand on her shoulder and stops to dig. She lets her emotions go, pounds her fist into the ground, and begins to sob hystaricly. She sits back and covers her face while she cries. Inuyasha sits next to her and wraps his arms around her shoulder. Kagome comes and sits on the other side and holds on, while Shippou climbs onto her lap. She takes her hands off her face and looks at everyone, then pulls them closer to her. There they stay for the night in the comfort of each others arms as they say goodbye.


End file.
